Posts by Zachariah Hughes

Usually, in March, the Bering Sea ice is reaching its thickest extent. But from the beach in Unalakleet, the full horizon is blue ocean water, punctuated infrequently by lone icebergs. Typically, in winter, the shore is silent, save the slight tinkling of ice shifting. This year, you can hear waves.

One abnormality in Iditarod 2019 is how few mushers have scratched: only one as of Thursday afternoon. Bruce Lee, a retired musher and Iditarod analyst, offers possible explanations for why the scratch count in 2019 is (so far) so low.

Aliy Zirkle is the first Iditarod musher to drive her team into Iditarod, the halfway point of the race, where she is now taking her mandatory, 24-hour rest. But some of the other front runners in the race have completed their 24 and are pulling ahead.

“I need sleep now (that) I didn’t used to need,” Jeff King said this year in Unalakleet. As younger mushers like Joar Ulsom push to Nome, Iditarod titans of years past, like King, are viewing the Iditarod trail from new perspectives.

Nicolas Petit, Mitch Seavey, and Joar Ulsom passed through Unalakleet on Sunday afternoon. The three racers arrived in very different states, offering signs of what could be ahead in the last stretch toward Nome.

It wouldn’t be Iditarod without a little weather. And this year, that’s caused a critical checkpoint to all but shut down, forcing top teams to adapt their run-rest strategies amid the long, flat slog up the Yukon River.